Former TutoringZone owner, wife, arrested on perjury charge

Wednesday

Matthew Bruce Hintze and Larina Hintze, both 47, were arrested on warrants for perjury in an official proceeding.

The former owner of a local tutoring company and his wife have found themselves in trouble again after a judge ruled previously that they tried to defraud creditors.

But this time the trouble led to their arrests, according to a Gainesville Police Department sworn complaint.

Matthew Bruce Hintze, 47, and his wife, Larina, 47, former owners of TutoringZone, were arrested on warrants for perjury in an official proceeding, after they told lawyers in a June 2017 deposition in a civil case that they did not own bank accounts and conducted most of their business with cash, the affidavit said.

Accounts belonging to both Hintze and his wife through PayPal and SunState Federal Credit Union were identified and their bank statements were obtained through subpoenas, according to the affidavit. Investigators determined the couple committed perjury.

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge ruled against the couple in January 2017, stating that they owed creditors-turned-plaintiffs at least $443,500 after misleading and defrauding them, according to court documents.

The ruling closed a three-year lawsuit that examined whether Matt Hintze, who owned TutoringZone, and his wife misrepresented their financial situation to secure loans before moving TutoringZone assets to avoid collections from lenders.

Judgements have been made against the couple in several cases, many of which are ongoing, and involve rulings which show the couple shifted assets a year before filing bankruptcy to try to avoid paying back loans.

“The unrefuted facts show that with intent to hinder, delay or defraud creditors, Plaintiffs in particular, Defendants caused their wholly owned entity ... to transfer its most valuable assets to a friendly creditor within a year prior to filing bankruptcy,” Judge Karen Specie of U.S. Bankruptcy Court Northern District of Florida, Gainesville Division, wrote in the lawsuit’s findings of fact. “Defendants employed (TutoringZone, LC) to mislead and work a fraud upon Plaintiffs.”

The Hintzes filed for bankruptcy in November 2012, owning at the time 100 percent of TutoringZone, after buying out co-owner Ethan Fieldman for $835,000 in 2011.

Shortly after leaving TutoringZone, Fieldman started another tutoring company, Study Edge, as a competitor and hired more than half of TutoringZone’s full-time tutors. Study Edge opened across from the University of Florida’s main campus; TutoringZone was a mile away, the judge’s ruling said.

Study Edge’s opening disrupted TutoringZone’s revenue and cash flow, Specie wrote. Matt Hintze’s mentor, Christopher James, a University of Florida business professor, and a new entity acquired TutoringZone’s assets. The new entity was called TutoringZone, II.

TutoringZone, II, essentially took over TutoringZone, LC, using the same business name, telephone numbers, web address, tutoring and advertising materials and logo, according to the findings of fact.

The Hintzes transferred TutoringZone’s intellectual property to James and TutoringZone, II, despite a provision in some creditors’ notes requiring the Hintzes to pay back loans after any sale of TutoringZone’s assets.

For the intellectual property transfer, James released the Hintzes from liability for $200,000 of the $375,000 they owed him beforehand.

The creditors did not learn of the transfer until after the Hintzes filed for bankruptcy, Specie wrote. An attorney for James told him and the Hintzes not to tell the creditors about the transfer until after the Hintzes filed for bankruptcy or about the creation of TutoringZone, II, until 90 days had passed.

“While (TutoringZone, LC) may have been operated for a legitimate purpose and as an independent entity while it was owned 50/50 by Mr. Hintze and Ethan Fieldman, once Defendants bought out Mr. Fieldman everything changed,” Specie wrote. ”(TutoringZone, LC) became virtually indistinguishable from and an extension of Defendants, who employed it to mislead and hinder, delay and defraud their creditors.”

The Hintzes were released from the Alachua County jail after bonding out.

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